SmithW6079

I brought up the point originally, and really what I meant in the actor/fanboy debate is that actors should be respectful that there will be fans who can discuss Romulan politics quite seriously, but fanboys/girls should also be respectful that there will be actors who don't care about Klingon marriage rituals. ** I know the new State Farm commercial with the Coneheads is evoking nostalgia for some folks, but I never found them funny, even back on SNL.

"Adonis" would be best enjoyed with a ball gag in his mouth.

I'll concede that a 400-sq ft home that you'll use a few weeks a year has a smaller footprint than a 2000-sq ft one, but this show has set as its somewhat sanctimonious and self-righteous premise that people are joining the "tiny house nation" because they are embracing a more simplistic, downsized lifestyle. A high-tech second home doesn't indicate "simplistic" or "downsized."

So, according to Heidi's blog, it was "our" show even before she was ever involved? Ugh.

I don't think there has been, at least nothing official that I've seen. Maybe some past participants have done blogs or something. There have been "Where are they now?" features about contestants from "The Biggest Loser," even when the winners have gained all the weight back and more.

I turned this one off before the build even started, because I found the couple annoying. If the "tiny house" movement is about simplifying and downsizing your life, adding a high-tech vacation home is kind of the opposite of all that, even if it is "tiny." Plus, well, John.

I think they have exactly the kind of show they want. They're not really trying to sell the audience a cohesive narrative, just snippets to elicit an emotional response: Obese (but not super obese; that's TLC's bailiwick) participants -- check. Hard life sob story -- check. Empathetic and concerned coach/trainer in Chris -- check. (Although to be fair, I believe he is genuinely concerned about these people.) Life lessons "learned" during crash dieting/intensive exercising -- check. Slight setback (diet, exercise, family life) -- check. Emotional "breakthroughs"/past demons confronted -- check. Triumphant weigh-in -- check. Pay it forward (gift certificate to Chris's spa) -- check.

Ah, but for some fanboys & girls, that's not enough. Sometimes, the people who can discuss the intricacies of Klingon politics (and I may or may not have resembled those individuals in the past) expect that the actors have the same level of obsession that they do.

While I wouldn't say I hate-watch this show -- I don't believe in expending the energy on something I don't enjoy -- this show continually frustrates me, whether it's Chris's half-assed transformation "plans" or the emotional manipulation of the audience (and, oh, all the crying). I watch because I'm interested in seeing people transform themselves and for inspiration, but this show makes it hard to do that. Not to take anything away from the twins' accomplishments -- both in holding their family together and their weight loss -- but I don't understand why after 9 months of intense working out and weight loss, they did not have more muscle or muscle tone. It was obvious during the visit to the plastic surgeon. (I'm fat, and I don't work out consistently, but I do have some muscle that shows underneath the fat.) There were at least two "contestants" from last year -- the chef and the guy who'd been molested by his father -- who did appear to put on an appreciable amount of muscle during their year-long transformation. Why couldn't the twin with the plantar fasciitis work out? I've had that too, and while walking is painful, it doesn't preclude physical activity. He certainly could have been exercising in water or on a stationary bike or doing upper body resistance training, plus stretching and PT for the foot. I really don't understand Chris's methods or his reasoning. A good trainer would have created a plan to work around his client's injury. The diet experiment was interesting, and I did like that he discovered the twins worked better together than apart. It was kind of funny that the twin "staying" at Chris's house was bored by the end of the day. Was he really at their house or their spa, or was he in a hotel? When the cameras were off, it seemed that Chris and Heidi left him to his own devices. Was he not able to go into town or have a social life? Was disappointed to see that Heidi is now an equal partner in the show's opening. Chris at least is charming with his fatboy crushes and, I believe, his genuine desire to help people. Heidi just looks like someone stuck a stick up her ass and that she feels superior to the fatties on the show. This was a new plastic surgeon, wasn't it? He looked uncomfortable on camera, and a little creepy to boot. Also, the twins still had a lot of weight to lose; they should have held off on the skin surgery. There's a young man with a YouTube channel called "Obese to Beast." He lost 100+ pounds and did a video several months ago explaining why he wasn't getting skin surgery at the moment. He works hard and it shows -- he's built muscle, and his loose skin is truly excess skin, not fat+skin. What was with the eyebrows on all the women in the family? The mother's were definitely drawn on, but the other girls had something similar too. Someone upthread mentioned them living in a trailer, which is usually symbolic of economically disadvantaged people, but it looked like their trailer was a double-wide. Those are really nice and bigger than some houses (certainly bigger than any "Tiny House" house). At two hours, this show is too long. Are all the episodes going to be two people now? Focus on one person for one hour at a time. It would tighten things up (no pun intended).

Then again -- and I might be seeing more than the writers intended -- they could have wanted to show the progression of how corporate money ruins artistic expression. Fung Wah originally says nothing will change; then Roger, Klaus, and the kids start dropping some product placement; then Fung inserts himself as a cartoon, eventually doing the voices; finally, it just becomes a promo video for Fung's businesses. Neither have I. I'm still convinced "edgier" to TBS means having the characters say "shit."

I'm just about done with the show. I really don't like John, I can't stand the pop psychology to downsizing (Peter Walsh he ain't), and the families are starting to annoy me. I'm tired of building them all on trailers, like the families really are going to move them, and stuffing four people (plus pets!) in 200-square feet. I would, however, watch Zach work with designers to build tiny homes.

That's not necessarily true. On one of my local stations, the weatherwoman is black and zaftig. As for "attractive," most people on TV are attractive; that's the nature of the beast.

If the season 1 Jules had been season 6 Jules, I would agree with you. I liked Jules from the start, but they made her stupider and stupider as the seasons progressed, to the point that I started to wonder how she could have started a successful business, and they made her needier and needier. I disagree. Jules accepts others -- as long as they conform to her idea of what they should be and that they should be at her beck and call.

I thought it was kind of obvious that's what they were doing. I was surprised the opening credits remained unchanged (no product placement in Stan's slide down the stairs, the peace sign Hayley puts on his back, etc.). That sounds truly bizarre. Also, that was a live-action soap opera (and if I remember, a pretty campy one at that). I don't think they were saying they had been compromised creatively, just that it happens. And while shows have not been "twisted" to appease a corporate sponsor as of yet, it doesn't mean it couldn't happen. This show doesn't always tell a straight narrative -- witness all the bizarre Christmas episodes, and last season, there was the episode staged as a "lost" play from the 1930s. Or, you know, different strokes and all that.

I thought the billionaire Fung Wah story line was hilarious. It was a skewering of corporate sponsorships and product placement in television/movie creation today. As the episode progresses, Fung Wah takes a stronger and stronger editorial role, because he's the man who holds the purse strings. He starts sublimating artistic creation for corporate promotion/profit. On "Eureka," for example, Subaru was a sponsor, so the characters drove Subarus, with close-ups of cars' grilles from time to time. Suppose Subaru wanted a greater role...and suddenly Carter and Jo are discussing the merits of a Subaru as a squad car versus a Ford during an episode. That's what was going on here. At the end, "American Dad" was nothing but a commodity to Fung Wah to promote his business interests, and then he sold it at a profit to another Chinese business man, who rebranded it. I laughed out loud at the end credits with the Smiths planting rice and acting like good Chinese peasants. I didn't care for Francine in the insane asylum plot, although the "Pudding on the Ritz" talent show was pretty funny.

A friend and I do the same thing with FirstName LastName. I think the red chair you might be thinking of was Judi Dench and the chair person had been at the same party. (And as I write that, I think there might have been another instance with a male actor. )

For the most part, I liked this episode. Until she mentioned it, I hadn't realized it -- but Graham does always call Kylie Minogue by her full name. I thought Simon Pegg looked like he lost weight, so I did some research. Apparently, he gave up drinking. I also saw (of what turns out to be an old feud) that he called Ricky Gervais a "fat idiot." Ricky Gervais isn't my favorite of actors, but I thought that was uncalled for. It colored my view of Simon Pegg, but apparently that feud was settled. Now I can just dislike him for writing the new Star Trek movie, apparently with the instructions to make it less 'Star Trek-y.' The third chair did keep pushing his way in to conversations, but for the most part, he was OK. I'm glad Graham called out Brandon Flowers for sampling Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy" in his song (and considering it was the whole under-melody [or whatever you call it], it was more than sampling). I wonder if the red chair was a set-up. I don't think either the man or the woman came across well. Presumably, you have to arrange in advance to get tickets to see a taping. If that's the case, why would the woman have made a date knowing she had was going to be busy that night? She seemed to be part of the whole "hag-do" crowd, so it's likely it was arranged previously. If her involvement was a last-minute thing, then it doesn't say much that she cancelled as soon as something better came along. Was the guy in the red chair a member of the studio audience? If the Graham Norton show invited him to be on just for the red chair, then it was a pretty shitty thing to do, considering the woman had cancelled a date twice. I don't think there really was a need to embarrass him like that.

Get rid of Trubel once and for all. Give Nick his balls back. Get back to solving Wesen crimes and using fairy tales for the basis of plots.

If an actor takes a role in an iconic show (e.g., Star Trek), I think it behooves them to acknowledge its history and accept that this history carries a certain "weight." To say the role is just a job to pay the bills shows a certain lack of respect to the fans. That being said, I also think it's incumbent on fanboys and girls to get over themselves and not put such a burden on an actor who might not share their love/obsession with said iconic TV show (or movie franchise, for that matter). Accept it if the actor doesn't want to be involved with conventions or fandoms.

Adalind's had a few scenes that have been lighthearted, and she handles them well.

I did like Lucy, but yes, she was a much better fit for Raj.

The dance contest was hilariously bad, especially that Dre's dance double was much thinner than he was. I like "flashback" episodes like this, when people look amazingly like their ancestors.

My main objection to Trubel -- aside from the bad acting -- is that if I had wanted to watch "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," I would have watched "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" when it was on.

While I wouldn't say I was excited, I am surprised that I'm pleased the show will be back at some point. I thought it was awful at the beginning, and Matthew Perry is still the weak link, but Thomas Lennon and the other supporting players really bolstered what was a mediocre remake.

I think your second point is correct -- Jeff's new body is alien-made, with his brain replacing Zebleer's. I always liked Jeff -- I thought he was a nice contrast to the sometime sociopathic Smiths, but I didn't miss him either. Actually, I liked the occasional episode with him in space with Sinbad's ghost. I think the writers never knew what to do with Haley once he was gone. She seemed to go in and out of grief depending on how they wanted the plot to move. I wonder why, in a episode titled "Holy Shit, Jeff's Back!" they felt the need to tease the identity of the person emerging from the crashed spaceship. For a moment, when the dad is deciding to go for cigarettes or leave town, I thought it was a continuation of the golden turd story line that pops up every five years or so.